‘Closely followed by electing Donald Trump a second time.’
Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City and co-founder of the media group, Bloomberg LP, has called Brexit “the single stupidest thing any country’s ever done.”
The comments sparked a wave of online reaction, questioning whether Brexit or the US electing Donald Trump, twice, might actually take the crown.
Speaking this week at the launch of Bloomberg’s new offices in Dublin, Bloomberg credited Brexit for Ireland’s recent economic surge, with more companies relocating there post-EU exit. He noted that 20 of the world’s top 25 financial services firms now have a presence in Ireland, alongside most major US tech companies.
“Ireland is the one that’s growing and America is the one that’s worried about growth,” he said.
Bloomberg’s Irish workforce has doubled in the last two years, and the new Dublin office is now one of its largest in Europe.
Turning to US politics, he spoke of the deep political divide there and his surprise to learn that the US had bombed Iran over the weekend. He warned that the Trump administration risked dismantling decades of diplomatic and economic relationships.
“America has just spent the last 70 years trying to build relationships with other countries … and we’re throwing away a lot of that … which I can’t explain,” he said.
Bloomberg, who ran for president as a Democrat in 2020, has had a rocky relationship with Trump, previously branding him a “pathological liar” and a “barking clown.”
“He’s a pleasant guy if you sat and had dinner with him, having said that I don’t agree with his policies at all,” he said.
He also insisted that Bloomberg’s news strives to maintain editorial balance, employing equal numbers of conservative and liberal reporters, while he personally remains out of politics.
But his Brexit remarks lit up social media, where the internet quickly weighed in:
“Closely followed by electing Donald Trump a second time,” read one comment.
“I would say it is a close 2nd to voting Trump into power…” was another.
“No news there then,” said another.
“Dumb and dumber, I’d say,” one user summed it up.
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